The Least Disliked Episode of TNG - Season Seven

[Brennyren]

Attached can go now. It's interesting that they had a little look at the Crusher/Picard relationship before the series ended, but it was a bit contrived.

Also, the ending was wishy-washy.

Moving along....I will not to "Thine Own Self" be true. The A-plot was predictable, and as for the "B" -- it has never made the slightest bit of sense to me that a support-services officer like Troi (or Crusher, who has been through the same) should have to prove she is capable of commanding the ship in order to advance in rank. Not that the test as given (and re-given) proves any such thing.

Phantasms
Inheritance
Parallels
The Pegasus
Lower Decks
Preemptive Strike
All Good Things...

 

[Sakonna]

I am not nearly as down on season 7 as most, I absolutely love everything that is remaining. I'm going to toss "The Pegasus." Of these, it's the one I never actually rewatch. Initially it was a season 7 highlight for me, but I think what I was really responding to there was how excited I was to have an episode that explored the dark side of Starfleet. Then DS9 (and now Discovery) leaned into that angle much harder and got to explore it in a much more in-depth way, and so "Pegasus" diminishes a little looking back.

Phantasms
Inheritance
Parallels
Lower Decks
Preemptive Strike
All Good Things...

 

[Seven of Five]

Of those that are left, Inheritance is the weakest. Yet another long-lost family member showing up for the crew, though I think Fionnula Flanagan is fantastic in pretty much everything.

Phantasms
Parallels
Lower Decks
Preemptive Strike
All Good Things...

 

[Spirit of 73]

Phantasms is out. The story doesn't even find it's first true plot point until almost halfway through.

Parallels
Lower Decks
Preemptive Strike
All Good Things...

 

[Spirit of 73]

Of those that are left, Inheritance is the weakest. Yet another long-lost family member showing up for the crew, though I think Fionnula Flanagan is fantastic in pretty much everything.

Yes! Including The Others!

 

[Sakonna]

"All Good Things..." Obviously brilliant, a wonderful series finale, but the plot logic of the anomaly feels creakier and creakier every rewatch.

I think these last three are flawless.

Parallels
Lower Decks
Preemptive Strike

The story doesn't even find it's first true plot point until almost halfway through.

That's a favorite quality of TNG for me... the way the episodes will sometimes just wander through huge chunks of character material, before casually deciding to begin their story.

 

[Qonundrum]

Wow, these threads have been going faster than a road runner on meth AND crack.

"Parallels" is a robust filler story, but the ending did some wannabe time travel shtick to act as if nothing ever happened. Data says the cop-out line in question:

"DATA: That is one possibility. However, the uncertainty principle dictates that time is a variable in this equation. You may end up several days before the event or several days after. "

Amazing how a dimensional (not temporal) anomaly can affect quantum leapy doodly sigantures in the pertinent universe and all that...



What remains:

Lower Decks
Preemptive Strike


(on edit: was a few nanoseconds late in my entry, removing ATG from the list.)

 

[Spirit of 73]

We'll give Lower Decks the win!

 

[Spirit of 73]

That's a favorite quality of TNG for me... the way the episodes will sometimes just wander through huge chunks of character material, before casually deciding to begin their story.

Really? Not my thing. That's usually pointed out as a writing mistake when they teach how to tell a story.

 

[Sakonna]

Really? Not my thing. That's usually pointed out as a writing mistake when they teach how to tell a story.

Oh believe me, I know. They also teach that you have to understand the rules so know how and when to break them, and that considered breaking of the classic rules is often what distinguishes your story and makes it unique.

I'm stealing this from somewhere, but I once saw TNG described as being "seven seasons of novelistic attention to character detail", and I thought that nailed it. Those slow wandering-around sections, where nothing is particularly happening, are one of the essential building blocks of the series, in my view. They're always doing it.

It doesn't always work, certainly (beginning of "Schisms", I'm looking at you). But other times it's delightful (I love that "Captain's Holiday" spends 15 minutes just on trying to get Picard to vacation before he finally goes).

 

[Discofan]

Really? Not my thing. That's usually pointed out as a writing mistake when they teach how to tell a story.

I tend to think that real knowledge comes into play when you've forgotten everything you've learned.

 

[Seven of Five]

Oh believe me, I know. They also teach that you have to understand the rules so know how and when to break them, and that considered breaking of the classic rules is often what distinguishes your story and makes it unique.

I'm stealing this from somewhere, but I once saw TNG described as being "seven seasons of novelistic attention to character detail", and I thought that nailed it. Those slow wandering-around sections, where nothing is particularly happening, are one of the essential building blocks of the series, in my view. They're always doing it.

It doesn't always work, certainly (beginning of "Schisms", I'm looking at you). But other times it's delightful (I love that "Captain's Holiday" spends 15 minutes just on trying to get Picard to vacation before he finally goes).

Yeah I know! It was probably the best part of Captain's Holiday for me.

 

[Discofan]

Yeah I know! It was probably the best part of Captain's Holiday for me.

That's really damning with faint praise.

 

[Farscape One]

The thing to remember is once you started caring about the characters, you can get away with doing not getting to the point until halfway or more. By the time TNG started doing that, it had established itself and the characters, so they fet more leeway doing that.

With the short attention span and impatience of audiences these days, try doing that in a first season episode. It won't last more than half a dozen episodes before getting the ax.

 

[Seven of Five]

That's really damning with faint praise.

True. I just love those opening scenes.

Think of the Klingon Tea Ceremony in Up The Long Ladder. Now that's a terrible episode, but everything with Worf and Pulaski in the opening scenes is gold.

I don't know how I can only seem to think of bad/average episodes.

 

[Discofan]

True. I just love those opening scenes.

Think of the Klingon Tea Ceremony in Up The Long Ladder. Now that's a terrible episode, but everything with Worf and Pulaski in the opening scenes is gold.

I don't know how I can only seem to think of bad/average episodes.

True. The tea ceremony was the only interesting thing in that utterly stupid episode.

 

[Sakonna]

Yeah I know! It was probably the best part of Captain's Holiday for me.

I don't know how I can only seem to think of bad/average episodes.

Speaking of... the beginning of "QPid" is also great for this! Once they end up in Sherwood Forest, I can't stand it, but the 20 minutes of Vash just being a guest on the Enterprise in advance are a blast.

 

[Seven of Five]

Good example!

 

[Spirit of 73]

Oh believe me, I know. They also teach that you have to understand the rules so know how and when to break them, and that considered breaking of the classic rules is often what distinguishes your story and makes it unique.

You can occasionally break the rules to good effect, like Psycho. But they are generally pretty good guides. I don't see wandering around without a story as a profitable way to spend time.

 

[Spirit of 73]

I tend to think that real knowledge comes into play when you've forgotten everything you've learned.

Dude, that makes no sense.